As most users of the familiar one-roll toilet paper holder installed in most homes have encountered at one point or another, the primary problem with this device is that it does not provide for the storage or easy replacement of additional rolls of toilet paper. Upon depletion of the installed roll, a new roll must be located and installed. A previous user of the toilet may have left only a small amount of paper remaining on the roll. Unless an extra roll is stored nearby, a subsequent user may be left without a sufficient supply of toilet paper. In many cases, the storage of an extra roll of paper near the toilet is aesthetically unappealing.
Moreover, many visually or physically challenged individuals lack the requisite dexterity and other motor or visual skills required to remove and install a roll of toilet paper on the familiar holder. The familiar holder stores the single roll of toilet paper on a longitudinally retractable dowel. The roll of toilet paper may spin about the dowel, which is usually spring-biased to an unretracted position and secured horizontally in a mounting bracket secured on a wall adjacent to the toilet. The toilet paper is secured to the dowel of the familiar toilet paper holder by inserting the dowel through a cardboard cylinder, which serves as a spool for the rolled toilet paper. The dowel is then retracted along its length, usually by using two hands, and inserted into a suitable mounting bracket on the wall. Releasing the dowel allows it to return to its unretracted position within the mounting bracket, thereby securing the dowel, and the roll of toilet paper, in place.
When the supply of rolled toilet paper on the spool is depleted, the spool must be removed from the dowel before a new roll of toilet paper may be installed. The ends of the retractable dowel may be grasped and pressed longitudinally toward each-other, thereby releasing the dowel from its mounting bracket and permitting the spool to be removed. Alternatively, if the user has sufficient strength and dexterity, the spool may be ripped from the dowel. However, physically challenged people, such as people suffering with arthritis, may not be able to retract the dowel to permit removal and replacement of the toilet paper roll. As a result, many physically or visually challenged people are forced to rely on the assistance of others for such a relatively simple task.
In addition, because the familiar holder is secured to a wall, it may be inaccessible, or at least inconvenient, to physically challenged individuals.
Several inventors have recognized the first problem with known toilet paper dispensers and have provided a toilet paper dispenser that also stores extra rolls of toilet paper. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,290 to Moskowitz and U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,958 to Poole. The patents to Moskowitz and Poole disclose inventions stacking multiple rolls of toilet paper vertically within a housing. However, these devices offer no simple or easy to use mechanism for installing the rolls of toilet paper or for moving a stored roll into an optimal position for being used following the exhaustion of paper from a previous roll.
For example, Moskowitz discloses stacking the rolls of paper in a cylinder with an endless tape secured to a cylinder cover and extending through the spools of the paper and encircling the stacked rolls of toilet paper. In order to use the Moskowitz invention, the user must lift the cover, which in turn lifts the rolls of toilet paper. Presumably, the user of the Moskowitz invention must simultaneously hold the cover while attempting to unroll sheets of toilet paper from one of the rolls extending below the cover. Likewise, the Poole invention discloses a pedestal having a dispenser with a spindle for receiving one roll of toilet paper on top and a storage compartment extending below it. When the roll of paper on the spindle is depleted, the user must remove a replacement roll from the storage compartment and install it on the spindle. Because of the lack of adequate means for advancing from the used and stored rolls of toilet paper, neither of these devices are particularly useful or helpful, especially for physically or visually challenged individuals.
Similarly, many of the known multiple-rolled toilet paper dispensers and storage devices are aimed for use primarily in public restrooms where theft-prevention of the toilet paper and restricting the free rotation of the toilet paper, rather than ease of use, are primary concerns. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,912 to Grunerud. Accordingly, rather ornate mechanisms have been designed to prevent individuals from gaining access to the stored rolls of paper before the primary rolls have been exhausted. For example, Grunerud discloses a rotatable dispenser with a means for vertically stacking and storing multiple rolls of toilet paper therein. During use, the user draws paper from the bottom of the dispenser. When that roll of paper is depleted, the user removes the cardboard spool by pulling a slide plate outwardly. This action triggers a complex mechanism that drops a new roll of paper in place. Such mechanisms are not particularly applicable for use in the home, where theft and loss prevention are not at issue, and they are not particularly easy to use, especially by physically challenged individuals. Moreover, such complex mechanisms increase the expense of such devices and are not particularly attractive, further limiting the market for such products for home use.
Some inventors have attempted to provide an aesthetically desirable multi-rolled residential toilet paper holder that also offers a relatively simple mechanism for installing the rolls of paper and for moving a stored roll into an optimal position for being used following the exhaustion of paper from a previous roll. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,951 to Carroll and U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,809 to Sineni et al. However, these devices are not particularly easy to fill with toilet paper or use, especially for physically and visually challenged individuals.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,951 to Carroll discloses a columnar toilet paper dispenser and container secured to a wall. The toilet paper is secured on a dowel which extends longitudinally within the dispenser with gravity urging the paper downward. An open area at the lower end of the dispenser permits the roll of paper positioned at the bottom of the container to be used. An opening at the top of the container permits additional rolls to be added to the dowel. A pivotally adjustable U-shaped bail extends across the opening at the lower end of the dispenser such that it may block the stored rolls of toilet paper from falling into the open area at the bottom of the container until they are needed for use. Upon completion of the roll of paper at the bottom of the dispenser, the user must tear the cardboard roll off the dowel and swing the bail outward to permit another roll to fall into place. The user must then lift the rolls of paper remaining on the dowel above the area occupied by the bail, and return the bail to its original position thereby securing these additional rolls of paper out of the way of the new roll of paper positioned to be used. As with traditional one-roll toilet paper holders, such activities are particularly difficult for physically or visually challenged individuals.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,809 to Sineni discloses a cylinder made of deformable material. The cylinder can hold multiple rolls of toilet paper which can be elevated to the top of the cylinder by means of a rod running across the interior of the cylinder. The rod is locked into place by twisting it: the height of the rod as viewed in cross section is greater than the width of the groove provided in the cylinder, such that twisting the rod deforms the cylinder and wedges the rod in place. Indicator marks positioned on the exterior surface of the cylinder provide a visual reference as to when the rod is properly positioned to permit the top roll to be accessed easily. All the rolls are concealed from view by a cover. Apparently, Sineni offers only a means for storing toilet paper when not in use, it does not describe any means for dispensing individual sheets of toilet paper from the rolls themselves. Moreover, the wedging of the rod within the deformable slot may be particularly difficult for individuals who are physically or visually challenged to perform easily or consistently.
Accordingly, despite these attempts, there remains a need for an aesthetically pleasing toilet paper holder that is capable of storing multiple rolls of toilet paper while still permitting easy and unrestricted dispensing of individual tissues from a roll of toilet paper, easy removal of the cardboard cylindrical spool upon exhaustion of that roll, easy replacement of the exhausted roll with one that is stored in the holder, and easy filling of the holder with rolls of toilet paper.